Why is Beethoven so loved? Why has he been a guiding star of civilization for all peoples across the ages? Why is his setting of Friedrich Schiller’s Ode to Joy one of the universal anthems of freedom?

As Beethoven "embraced millions" in his 9th Symphony Opus 125, the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus joined millions around the world embracing Beethoven 250 years after his birth, with a live event broadcast from St. John's in the Village in New York City on December 17th, 2020.

The Columbus Weekend Online Musikabend was presented on Sunday, October 11, 2020, by the Schiller Institute Chorus

An evening of Classical music, Spirituals and poetry, opened with from Liliana Gorini, president of the Italian Civil Rights Solidarity Movement, celebrating Christopher Columbus and the Age of Discovery. 

On Sunday September 27th, 2020, musician My-Hoa Steger presented the final class in the Summer Lecture Series, on the subject of Beethoven's compositional method.

Where does the musical scale come from? Is it merely a human invention? In 1619, the astronomer Johannes Kepler showed in his "The Harmony of the World" that not only are the ratios that form the major and minor scales coherent with the principles of constructive geometry, but they are built into the very stars themselves—that is, the motions of the planets of our solar system, as moved by their choral conductor, our Sun.

Schiller Institute Chorus & West View News co-hosted a 9/11 Memorial Concert on Friday, September 11, 2020 via the broadcast platform MUSEA.

In Class 4 of the Summer Lecture Series, on August 23, 2020, Fred Haight presented the second part of his exciting class, "Beethoven as an American Composer," looking more closely into his relationship to the ideas of "the poet of freedom," Friedrich Schiller. 

In a virtual choral performance of Defend the Yellow River, released on August 20th, 2020, the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus pays homage to those who suffered and died and those who fought together to defeat fascism.

Many have asked, "Why does the Schiller Institute Chorus sing at a lower tuning?" On August 9, 2020, Liliana presented Class #3 of the Summer Lecture Series on the "Fight for the Verdi Tuning." Speaking from Milan via Zoom, Liliana described her role in the nearly successful efforts of the 1980s and 1990s to bring the standard pitch back to A=432 Hz or C= 256, and why this had such widespread support among the top musicians of the day.

On July 26, 2020, Matthew Ogden presented the second in the Summer Lecture Series on the genius of Wilhelm Furtwängler and the agapic nature of classical motivic thorough-composition.

July 12, 2020 lecture no. 1 in the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus Summer Lecture Series began with the first of a two part presentation on Beethoven as an American Composer by Fred Haight.